In chemical, medical and biological applications, the handling of open or closed test tubes generally includes two phases: manipulation of test tubes during examination of their contents and permanent or temporary storage of test tubes. During examination, test tubes are held in holders for one or more test tubes, whereby groups of test tube holders may be assembled on separate trays for automatic processing. Such holders are designed for particular automatic test tube handlers and include features that are not needed for temporary or permanent storage of test tubes. Thus, using such test tube holders during a storage phase is both expensive and often space consuming.
Further, test tube storage trays must not damage any of the test tubes, their contents or the identification labels attached to each test tube. Such damage would cause the contents of the test tubes to be unusable and/or unidentifiable.
In addition, if the test tube labels are to be stored in a specific orientation, for example for use in an automatic test tube handler, the orientation of the test tubes should not change during insertion and storage.
Furthermore, for cost and space efficiency purposes, it may also be desirable to store test tubes of varying heights and diameters in the same test tube carrier or storage tray, and/or to stack multiple test tube carriers in a stable fashion.